Author: Karl Elvis

The Man with the Bag

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Ok, so I finished a new story. First thing that’s been done, really done, in like 18 months or more. Only here’s the problem. I tried something I’ve never done before. A non-consent erotica story. Now, there’s certainly a fan base for this (Some of my favorite people are in that group), but it’s not […]

Ok, so I finished a new story. First thing that’s been done, really done, in like 18 months or more.

Only here’s the problem. I tried something I’ve never done before. A non-consent erotica story. Now, there’s certainly a fan base for this (Some of my favorite people are in that group), but it’s not at all for everyone. And when I say non-consent… Well, if you don’t know what that means, just don’t go read that story.

So be warned.

Now, as non-consent stories go, it’s fairly light weight. And it’s silly.

So I give you The Man with the Bag.

But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Skin and Moomin

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This is one of those ‘odd where the web can take you’ bits. Let’s trace it as it happened. Brother Ray was talking about the tattoo he’s getting. Quinn responded with a mention of Shelley Jackson’s ‘skin’ project. So I went off and googled that, and got skin.

This is one of those ‘odd where the web can take you’ bits.

Let’s trace it as it happened.

Brother Ray was talking about the tattoo he’s getting.

Quinn responded with a mention of Shelley Jackson’s ‘skin’ project.

So I went off and googled that, and got skin.

Read more “Skin and Moomin”

Hunter says it right.

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I’ve been trying to come up with a way to say “here’s why you better vote for John Kerry in November”. But I’m not a political writer and I’m having trouble finding the right way to say it.

It’s simple. Bush is a bad man and a bad president. He’s taken the greatest PR windfall America’s had since WWII (9/11) and turned it into a reason for the world to hate us. They didn’t really have very much reason before. Some; sure. Not much. But he took all that hate and gave it a reason, handed our enemies ammunition, made our allies hate us, made us the laughing-stock of the world.

He’s dismantling our freedoms, he’s undoing decades of environmental and social progress, and if we let him, he’s going to re-make our supreme court in a way that will go on costing us for decades.

He’s gutting our economy and he’s going to walk away rich and safe while leaving the rest of us and our kids to pay for it.

He’s not my president. He was elected by fraud and corruption, and he has run the country the same way.

I don’t care if you like Kerry. I care that you vote against Bush.

But you know, let Hunter S. Thompson, let a man who does this for a living, tell you:

…That is why George W. Bush is President of the United States, and Al Gore is not. Bush simply wanted it more, and he was willing to demolish anything that got in his way, including the U.S. Supreme Court. It is not by accident that the Bush White House (read: Dick Cheney & Halliburton Inc.) controls all three branches of our federal government today. They are powerful thugs who would far rather die than lose the election in November.

Go read that whole thing . It’s worth it.

I don’t care how you register. I don’t care about your party. This is past rebublican or democrat. This is about evil and stupidity. Kerry may or may not be the man you want running your country, but George W. Bush is not. Not if you think, not if you read, not if you value your freedoms. He’s done more harm to this country in four years than I’ve seen in my forty+ years of life. Don’t let him make it worse.

Hold your nose if you must. But vote and vote for Kerry. Vote against Bush.

Don’t let that evil bastard fuck up my country any more.

What was this about anyway?

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When I started this thing, it was all about writing. There’s been a lotta stuff since. Orkut, way too muchg about orkut, but it made things happen in my life. Geekery, and the blogosphere in general. Travel. Kids. Family. Friends. Sex. My life, I guess. But I finally, finally got something written. A story I […]

When I started this thing, it was all about writing.

There’s been a lotta stuff since. Orkut, way too muchg about orkut, but it made things happen in my life. Geekery, and the blogosphere in general. Travel. Kids. Family. Friends. Sex.

My life, I guess.

But I finally, finally got something written. A story I started to conceptualize last fall, but didn’t have time to get done by the holidays. A bit of filth inspired by a song.

It’s not quite done. I think I need to expand it a bit (Usually it’s the other way, I need to strip out the too-much parts). But just finishing something, anything, even in a draft state, felt so damned good.

Fluff. Yeah. It’s fluff. But given that the last thing I finished was over 18 months ago, it still smells like napalm in the morning.

Yeah, I’ll post a link eventually. I need some expert editorial input on it to see if it’s worth a damn.

Geekery – Upgrade and AdiumX

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Geek interlude. First, I just upgraded to MT 3.12. You see anything wrong (other than what’s wrong with me, and oh, where to start), let me know. Second, if you’re running OSX and still using iChat instead of AdiumX, get on it. AdiumX is a multi-protocol chat client, like Trllian. Only it’s still completely free, […]

Geek interlude.

First, I just upgraded to MT 3.12. You see anything wrong (other than what’s wrong with me, and oh, where to start), let me know.

Second, if you’re running OSX and still using iChat instead of AdiumX, get on it.

AdiumX is a multi-protocol chat client, like Trllian. Only it’s still completely free, it’s incredibly well designed, it’s under active development, and the guys who are working on it are really really cool.

Now, I was a big iChat fan. It has what I still think is the best chat interface around. But it’s full of bugs, it’s not really being worked on much, and it only supports AIM and rendezvous chat. As far as I’m concerned, a chat client that doesn’t support at least AIM and Yahoo is worthless. iChat also only lets you sign in one account at a time; again, useless. I have a work IM account, and a social account, and I need them both signed in. So until they get iChat up to speed with all that (and yeah, I keep asking), I will run something else.

I tried a bunch of other tools. Fire, Proteus, I think some others. They all sort of sucked.

AdiumX though, does not suck at all. It’s got a great, very configurable interface, it’s intuitive to use, it can be configured to look a lot like iChat. It’s got all kinds of plug-ins.

Version .7 was just released. I’ve been beta testing it all along and this is the best version yet. And it’s still getting better.

Even if you like iChat, I’d suggest you get it and give it a try.

It’s a start

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This is one of those bits of writing I have sitting around. I can’t figure out what the hell to do with it. I dunno where it goes, I didn’t start with a plot. I just started with an opening line and it went from there. Went this far and then… Nothing. Here it is […]

This is one of those bits of writing I have sitting around. I can’t figure out what the hell to do with it. I dunno where it goes, I didn’t start with a plot. I just started with an opening line and it went from there. Went this far and then… Nothing.

Here it is anyway.

It starts with:

“I picked her up at a funeral. Which should tell you something.”

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God Dammmit, Server Down

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So I’m happy once again that I use a local blogging client (ecto) because my web server is down ‘n dead for some reason (D’oh! But that’s free web space, which is long on love but short on support because I don’t pay for it. Love you guys). If you’re reading this it means we […]

So I’m happy once again that I use a local blogging client (ecto) because my web server is down ‘n dead for some reason (D’oh! But that’s free web space, which is long on love but short on support because I don’t pay for it. Love you guys).

If you’re reading this it means we got apache going again. If you’re not reading this, why the hell am I talking to you?

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tis the season for my head to explode

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Oh, how I love this time of year. Fall. The leaves change (well, kinda, it’s California), Halloween starts happening (and when did Halloween get to be such a big deal? When I was a kid it was all about kids and cheap costumes – now it’s… Well, fuck it, that’s another entry), it’s no longer […]

Oh, how I love this time of year.

Fall. The leaves change (well, kinda, it’s California), Halloween starts happening (and when did Halloween get to be such a big deal? When I was a kid it was all about kids and cheap costumes – now it’s… Well, fuck it, that’s another entry), it’s no longer hot but still nice enough for motorcycle riding and driving with the top off my jeep.

But then there are the other features of fall. Pollens. Dust. My furnace back in use after being idle all summer. Allergies.

And the kids are back in school. Little petri dishes, schools. “Here, I’ve got extra snot, you want it?” Which means sinus headaches and colds. Sinus infections and coughs. Hell. At least it isn’t like when the first kid was in preschool. Start about the middle of September and that’s it, we’re all sick til spring.

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Most of my Songs are Contraptions

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“Some songs need work; some write themselves. “Came out of the ground like a potato, always the best ones,” Waits says. “Most of my songs are contraptions. Take the head off that doll and screw it onto the side of that washing machine. But the best ones come out just like a litter. I usually […]

“Some songs need work; some write themselves. “Came out of the ground like a potato, always the best ones,” Waits says. “Most of my songs are contraptions. Take the head off that doll and screw it onto the side of that washing machine. But the best ones come out just like a litter. I usually start with two tunes, put them in a room together and they have kids. There are usually two songs that are the parents of the rest. That’s my theory.”

My mother, actually, just pointed out this interview to me.

SFGate’s Joel Selvin, who used to be a terrible pop music critic back in the, what, seventies, eighties, whenever he started, but has turned into a pretty good writer these days, interviewing Tom Waits.

That’s a really good interview. He mostly lets Waits, a somewhat reclusive man, speak for himself, but the writing manages to keep the vaguely surreal, vaguely poetic tone of Waits work. Not an easy thing to do and Selvin pulls it off.

I met Waits once, in Hawaii.

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L O V E & H A T E

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How I love hand tattoos.

How I love hand tattoos.

If I could have one tattoo – just one, that’s what it would be. On the hand.

There are tons of different options. The classic swallows or other symbols on the web between thumb and forefinger. Pictures on the hands. Words along the outside edge, which are a military tradition so you could send a message while you salute.

There are a lot of bad ideas for hand tattoos of course. And I really don’t like the wedding ring tattoo idea. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, it just doesn’t speak to me.

There are reasons not to tattoo the hands. First, because of the mobility of that skin, the tattoos break down and fade quickly. The skin moves, it’s exposed to the sun. It’s not a great place for color tattoos or small delicate detailed tattoos.

But more — it’s a commitment. It’s a huge commitment. People with no tattoos don’t know; people with tattoos in hide-able places don’t know. Once tattoos move from places you can hind in normal clothes, it all changes. And it’s not where you think, this line. It’s not the elbows when you’re in short sleeves. It’s not the wrist when you’re in long sleeves. It’s somewhere on the upper half of the biceps or six inches up from the wrists. Because as you move, things show.

And here’s the thing. Once people notice extensive, elaborate tattoos, they treat you different. Not always bad different, in a lot of places you get more respect or recognition for being heavily tattooed. But it’s going to change people’s opinion of you. Forever.

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